The TB Modelling Group at LSHTM is a multidisciplinary group of mathematical modellers and epidemiologists with varying backgrounds in physics, mathematics, biomedical sciences and biology.
The focus of our research is using mathematical and statistical models to better understand the natural history and epidemiology of TB and to improve the contribution of TB modelling to policy decisions and implementation.
Kristian
Godfrey
TB Modelling Group Programme Manager
Kristian is the TB Modelling Group Programme Manager for the TB Modelling group, providing administrative, logistical and financial management leadership across the group’s various grants since 2015. His previous roles included stints with the Transparency & Accountability Initiative at Open Society Foundation and the Maternal & Newborn Health Unit at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Christina Spencer
Programme Coordinator
In her role as Programme Coordinator, Christina provides administrative, logistical and financial management support for the group. Christina joined LSHTM in 2014 as a Programme Manager and since that time has worked on a variety of projects within the School. Her earlier roles at Imperial College London and the MRC Clinical Trials Unit were also in programme management and administration.
Miyo
Hanazawa
TB Modelling Group Programme Coordinator
Miyo works as a Programme Coordinator, providing administrative, logistical and financial management support for the group. Her background is in international development management and prior to joining LSHTM in 2017, she worked for various ODA projects in Latin America and Asia primarily in the field of higher education.
Richard
White
Professor of Infectious Disease Modelling
Richard is Director of the TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium (TB MAC) and co-leads the LSHTM TB Modelling Group with Rein. He is co-chair of the Epidemiology, Modelling, and Trial Designs Research Community in the Consortium for TB Vaccine Discovery; and TB lead of the Global Fund for Aids, TB, and Malaria Modelling Guidance Committee.
He has particular interests in the use of models to improve TB prevention and care decision making at global and country level, and to accelerate the development and implementation preparedness of new TB vaccines.
Follow Richard on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/richardwhite321.bsky.social, X: https://twitter.com/richardwhite321, Linkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/richard-white/14/47a/961
Rein
Houben
Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Rein is a TB epidemiologist and mathematical modeller. He co-leads the TB modelling group, where his research has a strong focus on the natural history of TB and community-wide screening. In addition, Rein has a wide interest in using modelling to decisions on TB funding as well as global and national TB policy. He also works on understanding the social and structural determinants of TB and paediatric TB. Follow Rein on Bluesky at: @reinhouben.bsky.social.
Gwen
Knight
Professor
Gwen's research focuses on the spread of antibiotic resistance: by understanding where it comes from can we design novel methods for control? She has worked on estimating the fitness costs of resistance in TB, the impact of vaccination and estimates of the latent burden of drug-resistant TB infection.
Follow Gwen on Bluesky at: @gmknght.bsky.social.
Emilia
Vynnycky
Honorary Associate Professor
Emilia works at Public Health England (PHE) and has an affiliation with LSHTM. She works on modelling infectious diseases with a focus on rubella and TB. Her current TB research interest includes the effect of diagnostic delays.
Nicky
McCreesh
Associate Professor
Nicky is interested in understanding the role of heterogeneity (e.g. in contact patterns, infectiousness, natural history, and health seeking behaviour) in the transmission and control of TB, and in modelling TB active case finding. She also works on calibration methodology.
Finn
McQuaid
Associate Professor
Finn is interested in TB treatment and care, and the impact of crises such as climate change on TB. He is also the secretariat epidemiologist for the TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium (TB MAC). His background is in maths. Follow Finn on Bluesky at: @cfmcquaid.bsky.social.
Tom
Sumner
Assistant Professor - ISSF Fellowship
Tom is interested in using models to predict and understand the impact of interventions. His current work is focused on active case finding and the potential impact of new TB vaccines.
Katherine
Horton
Assistant Professor - TB Modelling Group
Katherine is an epidemiologist and mathematical modeller interested understanding and addressing disparities that increase TB burden and limit access to diagnosis and treatment.
Lara
Gosce
Assistant Professor
Lara is a mathematical modeller of infectious diseases, her main research interest is studying transmission mechanisms and population dynamics. She mostly works on TB modelling and cost-effectiveness analysis.
Rebecca
Clark
Assistant Professor
Rebecca is an assistant professor interested in modelling tuberculosis vaccine delivery strategies as well as other interventions to address socioeconomic factors both nationally and subnationally. Her background is in math, statistics, and epidemiology. Follow Rebecca on Bluesky at: @raclark18.bsky.social.
John
Ellis
Research Fellow
John is a research fellow working on modelling tuberculosis vaccination strategies. His background is in mathematical modelling applied to ecology and epidemiology and he has previously worked on modelling public health interventions against neglected tropical diseases.
Alvaro
Schwalb
Research Fellow
Alvaro is a research fellow at LSHTM, focusing on tuberculosis burden and trend estimation. He has a background in medicine and epidemiology. Follow Alvaro on Bluesky: @aschwalbc.bsky.social.
Lily
O'Brien
Research Assistant
Lily is a Research Assistant working on the mathematical modelling of COVID-19 transmission. Her background is in Biomedical Sciences and Public Health (Pandemics).
Elena
Venero Garcia
Research Assistant
Elena is a research assistant focusing on using mathematical modelling to study tuberculosis natural history along its interventions. Her background is in biology and epidemiology.
Abel
Kjaersgaard
Research Assistant
Abel is a Research Assistant focusing on age and sex differences in drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) burden, the dynamics of acquisition versus transmission, and DR-TB in the broader antimicrobial resistance context. He has a background in social sciences, data science, and mathematical modelling for global health.
Kathy
Thomas
Research Assistant
Kathy is an epidemiologist with a particular focus on the implementation and evaluation of public health interventions in LMICs. Her research currently focuses on collecting empirical data to inform the implementation of a potential new TB vaccine.
Martin
Harker
Research Fellow - Health Economics of TB
Martin is a research fellow and research degree student in transmission and health economic modelling. He works on the economics of a range of TB interventions, with a particular focus on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of TB preventive therapy for multidrug-resistant TB. His background is in biological sciences, maths and public health.
Kate
LeGrand
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Kate is a research degree student at LSHTM interested in modelling the impact of interventions on TB transmission. Her background is in geospatial epidemiology and medical anthropology. Follow Kate on Bluesky: @lekate.bsky.social.
Chaelin
Kim
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Chaelin is a research degree student interested in comparing different empirical treatment choices for drug-resistant tuberculosis through modelling. Her background is in policy and economic research.
Thirapa
Nivesvivat
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Thirapa Nivesvivat is a research degree student interested in the natural history of tuberculosis in children, particularly the progression and regression of disease states. She previously worked as a paediatric infectious disease specialist.
Zsofia
Hesketh
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Zsofia is a research degree student working on modelling different novel TB vaccine delivery strategies, including risk group targeting (e.g. Sex), in different country and regional settings. She has a background in both medical and social sciences.
Hira
Tanvir
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Hira is a research degree student studying the long-term health and economic impacts of social housing interventions on infectious disease transmission among people experiencing homelessness in the UK. She has a background in vaccine impact modelling for TB, measles, Hib, pneumococcal disease, and rotavirus in low- and middle-income countries.
Maria
Calderon
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Maria is a PhD student whose research will focus on the impact of climate change on tuberculosis outcomes, using mathematical modelling as the main approach. She is particularly interested in exploring differences between rural and urban settings, as well as assessing the broader economic implications.
Nabila
Shaikh
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Nabila is a research degree student at LSHTM interested in the use of real-world data to improve patient-centric outcomes for infectious disease research. Her background is in the epidemiology of respiratory pathogens.
Shukrah
Ghali
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Shukrah is a research degree student working on tuberculosis modelling in Nigeria, with interests in subnational burden estimation, transmission dynamics, and economic evaluation of vaccination and screening strategies. She previously trained in veterinary medicine and public health.
Sarra
Khadir
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Sarra is a part-time PhD student focusing on modelling the impact of novel tuberculosis vaccines in high-income countries. She has a background in pharmacy and experience in consultancy, contributing to modelling and analytical work in global health.
Mathamsanqa
Ndlovu
Research Student - MPhil/PhD - Epidemiology & Population Health
Mathamsanqa is a research degree student working on TB transmission and health economic modelling, with a focus on the epidemiology and cost-effectiveness of radiographically apparent, bacteriologically unconfirmed TB in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Pakistan. With a background in epidemiology, biostatistics, and implementation science, he aims to generate evidence to improve TB diagnosis strategies and guide policy in high-burden settings.
Tomos
Prys-Jones
Senior Research Software Engineer
Tom is developing software tools to better understand the impact of TB vaccination. Much of his work uses the group’s tbvax model and its running on high performance computing clusters. His background is in bioinformatics and paleoecology, specifically analysing ancient DNA and understanding the impact of historical mammal extinctions on current pathogen diversity.
Roel Bakker
Senior modelling consultant
Roel Bakker has 40 years of experience in mathematical modelling of infectious disease dynamics. He works as a senior modelling consultant for the TB Modelling Group at LSHTM, for the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation in the Hague, and for RadboudUMC Nijmegen. Roel has extensive experience in developing and teaching mathematical models of dynamical systems, in particular models of physiological systems and infectious disease dynamics.
Christina Albertson
Former group member
Christina was a TB Modelling group administrator. She moved to a project administrator role within the School.
John Benest
Former group member
John did a PhD with the group, researching the application of PK/PD methods to vaccine dose optimisation
Sean Cavany
Former group member
Sean did a PhD project with the group on TB contact tracing in the UK. He started a postdoc at the University of Notre Dame, USA in 2018.
Madeleine Clarkson
Former group member
Madeleine worked as part of the TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium secretariat. She left to take up a PhD position at the University of St Andrews
Arminder Deol
Former group member
Arminder worked on projects on ventilation and TB vaccine modelling. She left in 2021 to take up a position as a Senior Epidemiologist at CEPI.
Pete Dodd
Former group member
Pete worked on TB/HIV modelling within the group. He left to join the School of Health and Related Research at Sheffield University.
Marek Lalli
Former group member
Marek worked on the TIME project, supporting country-level TB policy decisions. He left in 2019 to work for the World Health Organization as a Technical Officer in the TB Monitoring, Evaluation and Strategic Information Unit of the Global TB Programme.
Adrienne Keen
Former group member
Adrienne did a PhD in TB modelling as part of the group. She moved on to a Senior Research Associate role at HEOR & Strategic Market Access (Greater Boston, USA).
Natascha Meunier
Former group member
Natascha did a PhD on bovine TB. She went on to do a postdoc at the University of Edinburgh.
Christinah Mukandavire
Former group member
Christinah worked on TB vaccine modelling. She left in 2022 to take up a position at CEPI
Debora Pedrazzoli
Former Group Member
Deborah worked on expanding the evidence base on the socioeconomic determinants of TB. She left to work at the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) at the World Health Organization.
Sophie Rhodes
Former group member
Sophie worked on mathematical modelling to inform vaccine dosing decisions. She left the group in 2021 and now works for Certara as a pharmacometric consultant.
Olivia Ross-Hurt
Former group member
Olivia was a TB Modelling group administrator. She went on to be a sports fitness trainer and social media star.
Jamie Rudman
Former group member
Jamie worked on the TIME project, supporting country-level TB policy decisions. He left the School in 2020, but continues to work as a consultant in TIME modelling.
Tina Sachs
Former group member
Tina was a TB Modelling group administrator. She left in 2018 to be a Project Manager at Stellenbosh University in South Africa.
Chathika Weerasuriya
Former group member
Chathika worked on on the probable impact of new TB vaccines, their cost-effectiveness and their impact of multi-drug resistance. He left the School to work as a Principle Data Scientist at GSK, UK.
Danny Scarponi
Former Group Member
Danny worked on a project to develop a history matching and model emulation R package. He left in 2023 to take up a position at CEPI.
Jon Emery
Former group member
Jon used modelling methods to infer the underlying natural history of TB from empirical data. He left in 2023 to work at the Atlantic Salmon Trust.
Nicola Foster
Former group member
Nicola worked on the measurement and analysis of the social determinants of tuberculosis. She left in 2024 to work as a Research Fellow at UCL.
Arkaprabha Gun
Former group member
Arkaprabha Gun worked as a Research Assistant in the group, and left to start a PhD at McGill University.
Alexandra Richards
Former group member
Alex did a PhD and worked as a research fellow with the group, studying natural history and gender disparities. She left in 2025 to take a position at the University of Glasgow, continuing her work in TB.
Rebecca Harris
Former group member
Rebecca’s research focussed on modelling to inform development and implementation of new and existing TB vaccines. She left in 2019 to work for Sanofi Singapore.
Matthew Quaife
Former group member
Matt worked with the group as a Health Economist. He left in 2021 to work at Evidera.
Puck Pelzer
Former group member
Puck worked with the group exploring implementation strategies for late-stage tuberculosis vaccine candidates, as part of her work for KNCV.
Naomi Fuller
Former group member
Naomi completed her PhD on modelling the effects bacterial heterogeneity on drug-resistant tuberculosis. She finished in 2026 and has joined Imperial College London as a Research Associate.
Current areas of research
- Project Management
-
Christina Spencer, Miyo Hanazawa, Kristian Godfrey
Our team oversees the financial, logistical and project management side of all the Group’s work.
- Vaccines
-
Sarra Khadir, John Ellis, Zsofia Hesketh, Kathy Thomas, Rebecca Clark, Roel Bakker, Tom Sumner, Richard White
We use models to support decision making on the development and implementation planning of new TB vaccines.
- Drug resistance
-
Abel Kjaersgaard, Shukrah Ghali, Chaelin Kim, Martin Harker, Naomi Fuller, Finn McQuaid, Gwen Knight
Our group has a number of projects considering the role of drug resistance in TB, including the impact of different interventions and mechanisms behind the development of resistance.
- HIV
-
Shukrah Ghali, Katherine Horton, Nicky McCreesh, Tom Sumner, Rein Houben, Richard White
A number of projects in our group consider the role that HIV plays as a risk factor for TB disease development, and its effects on transmission and healthcare usage.
- Methodology
-
Nicky McCreesh, Tom Sumner, Richard White
Our group conducts research into new methods for use in infectious disease modelling, with focuses on methods for calibration and sensitivity analysis of complex models, exploration of structural uncertainty in models, and modelling methods to improve vaccine dose decision-making.
- Natural history
-
Thirapa Nivesvivat, Hira Tavir, Elena Venero-Garcia, Alvaro Schwalb, Katherine Horton, Nicky McCreesh, Emilia Vynnycky, Rein Houben
A number of people in our group have an interest in understanding the natural history of Mtb infection and TB disease. The team combines modelling tools with historical and contemporary data to better understand various aspects of TB natural history, including self-clearance of Mtb infection, subclinical disease.
This work is predominantly funded by an ERC Starting Grant project TBornotTB.
- Economics
-
Sarra Khadir, Hira Tanvir, Chaelin Kim, Martin Harker, Rebecca Clark, Lara Gosce
Our work covers a range of methodological and empirical health economic topics applied to TB treatment and prevention. We are currently working on the economics of TB vaccines, digital adherence technologies, multidrug resistant TB, and long-term morbidity and mortality post-TB.
- TB Modelling Guidance, Coordination and Strategy
-
Kristian Godfrey, Finn McQuaid, Richard White
Our group hosts the TB Modelling and Analysis Consortium (TB MAC). TB MAC to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of TB care and prevention policy and practice at global and country levels, and to contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiological and health system processes that generate TB outcomes.
- Trials
-
Mathamsanqa Ndlovu, Kate LeGrand, Chaelin Kim, Martin Harker, Lara Gosce, Tom Sumner, Katherine Horton, Finn McQuaid, Nicky McCreesh, Rein Houben, Richard White
We collaborate with groups at LSHTM and elsewhere to use mathematical models to help design and interpret the results of clinical trials and make projections of population level impacts of interventions.
- Gender
-
Zsofia Hesketh, Katherine Horton
Our group seeks to improve understanding of gender disparities in TB burden and care pathways and the impact of those disparities across the population.
- Molecular Epidemiology
-
Emilia Vynnycky
Our group aims to use mathematical modelling and molecular epidemiology to improve our understanding of the natural history and epidemiology of tuberculosis.
- Transmission
-
Kate LeGrand, Hira Tanvir, Lily O’Brian, Lara Gosce, Nicky McCreesh
Our group has an active programme of research into understanding Mycobacterium transmission patterns, including collecting and using social contact data, and research into transmission locations.
- Structural Determinants
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Hira Tanvir, Rebecca Clark, Lara Gosce, Finn McQuaid, Rein Houben
Our group is interested in the role of structural determinants in TB, such as undernutrition, prisons, migration and urban slums, as well as interventions to address these.
- Burden estimation
-
Alvaro Schwalb, Katherine Horton, Finn McQuaid, Rein Houben, Richard White
Our group takes an active role in both the production, and support of production by others, of estimates of various measures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and TB disease burden.
- Research software
-
Tomos Prŷs-Jones, Tom Sumner, Nicky McCreesh, Roel Bakker
Currently, the group focuses on methods for calibrating complex models (hmer R package), as well as understanding the epidemiology, care and prevention of TB (TBMod).
- Climate change
-
Maria Calderon, Shukrah Ghali, Rebecca Clark, Lara Gosce, Finn McQuaid, Rein Houben, Richard White
Our group works on the intersection of climate change and TB, including modelling the effect of climate-driven changes in key TB determinants.
Past areas of research
- Policy and planning tools
Between 2013 and 2020, group members led development and implementation of the TIME modelling suite, a group of modelling tools to support TB policy decisions in LMIC. Widely used and useful for countries including South Africa, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe, implementation of the tool was transferred to KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation.
Contact person: Rein Houben
- Immunology
Between 2015 and 2022 the group used within-host mathematical models to understand the dynamics of the immune response, predominantly after vaccination.
Contact person: Richard White
Members of the TB Modelling Group lead three general courses on infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine:
- Distance learning MSc module - Modelling and the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases
- MSc module – Modelling and the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases
- Two-week summer short course – An Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling and Its Applications
Group members also lead an introductory course – Introduction to Tuberculosis Modelling – aimed as an introduction to TB modelling. This course is usually run annually as a post-graduate course at the Union World Conference on Lung Health.
Emilia Vynnycky and Richard White, both members of the group, have also written an introductory infectious disease modelling textbook – An Introduction to Infectious Disease Modelling – which has also been released as an ebook.
LSHTM Centres
Collaborators
- Aurum Institute
- Australian Tuberculosis Modelling Network (AuTuMN)
- Avenir Health
- Global Good
- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- HIV Modelling Consortium
- Institute for Disease Modelling (IDM)
- Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH)
- Lancaster University
- KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation
- Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme
- Royal Veterinary College (RVC)
- Stellenbosch University Desmond Tutu TB Centre
- Stop TB Partnership
- University College London (UCL)
- University of Cape Town (UCT)
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
- World Health Organization Global TB Programme
- Yale School of Public Health